Although I've mentored several undergraduate students in the past, I hadn't realized what being a mentor was really about until I became a parent. Now I see that the similarities are uncanny.

When my student figures out something new or 'gets it', I feel proud and excited. When he shows up four hours late, I am disappointed that he didn't warn me, and frankly, I feel that I should scold him (though I don't). I find myself explaining, in great detail, simple things that I take for granted as routine or obvious. Other times, I find him plugging away at data analyses I hadn't expressly told him to work on. Just like any parent, I take his successes, and failures, personally.

In my pre-parenting days, I had assumed that good students were born. But I now realize they are made, through careful and patient nurturing by scientists who are willing to devote their time.

My mentoring experience has taught me how to be a more patient teacher, a good listener and a better planner. Every student, successful or not, is unique and each can teach me something new and useful about myself. Of course, the best part of mentoring, for me, is watching their intellect and creativity shine as they progress in their projects, and watching their careers blossom when they leave the nest as they, perhaps, go on to nurture their own students.